BokuranoOverlap
by King-of-Wings-360
Summary: An alternate telling of the original Bokurano storyline, with characters and plot twists from the manga, anime, and even the novel format. Intensified human drama, more mesmerizing robot fights, and 20 pilots! Don't delay, read today!
1. Disclaimers, Descrpitons, and Characters

**Bokurano/ Overlap**

by King-Of-Wings-360

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bokurano and have no desire to make any profit from this, aside from the many fans who will be groveling at my feet after reading this work of fiction.

**Notes: **Greetings to one and all viewers. I am King-Of-Wings-360 and I am a huge fan of Bokurano. SO much of a fan, that I have had no choice but to nerd out and write a fan fiction about it. Now I feel you should know, there will be aspects of this story familiar to those who have read both the manga and the light novel and seen the anime (if you are not familiar with either, please stop reading and see and read both of these before continuing; it will help you understand the story better without giving away any spoilers), and there will also be a few of my own touches in this, as well. X3

This fanfic will include the following characters:

Isao Kako, aka Kako

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Light Brown

Kirie and Chizu's schoolmate, he is very spoiled and self-centered with an inferiority complex.

Junji Karita, aka Katari

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

A devoted lover of video games, he can be somewhat inconsiderate at times.

Yosuke Kirie, aka Kirie

7th Grade

140cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Dark Brown

A poor, overweight child who is often bullied, was talked into coming by Kako and Chizu.

Masaru Kodaka, aka Kodama

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Light Brown

A quiet boy who keeps to himself, he has a warped view of the worth of people based on his father.

Kunihiko Moji, aka Moji

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Light Brown

A very kind and insightful boy, he is often seen as the leader of the group.

Nagi Namoto, aka Nagi

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Black

Moji's close male friend from school, appears to be very close with Tsubasa.

Jun Ushiro, aka Ushiro

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

An assertive, stoic boy who puts it upon himself to look after others, specifically his sister.

Takashi Waku, aka Waku

7th Grade

155cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Black

An energetic and confident young boy, he is very insightful despite passing himself off as the opposite.

Daiichi Yamura, aka Daichi

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

Despite his gruff, humorless exterior, he is a kind person who is hard-working and responsible.

Kanji Yoshikawa, aka Kanji

7th Grade

160cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

Ushiro's good friend from school, he is a cool and collective boy whose parents are architects.

Maki Ano, aka Maki

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

An outgoing tomboy who is very knowledgeable of the military via her otaku father.

Tsubasa Hiiragi, aka Tsubasa

7th Grade

147cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Black

Moji's close female friend from school, appears to be very close with Nagi.

Chizuru Honda, aka Chizu

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type AB

Hair: Dark Brown

Kirie and Kako's schoolmate, often calm and quiet, yet seems to distance herself from boys.

Maria Ichinose, aka Maria

7th Grade

160cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Blonde

Waku's tall and spunky friend from school, noticed by others for her dark skin.

Takami Komoda, aka Komo

7th Grade

155cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

Maki's quiet friend from school, she is the only daughter of a naval commander.

Yoko Machi, aka Machi

7th Grade

145cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Black

A very level-headed girl with freckles who hates being proven wrong, her father is a fisherman.

Mayako Makishima, aka Maya

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Black

Her trademark features are her lolita-goth style of clothing and her scissor-shaped hair.

Mako Nakarai, aka Nakama

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type A

Hair: Dark Brown

A kind girl who focuses on setting herself as an example of how others should live honestly.

Aiko Tokosumi, aka Anko

7th Grade

150cm

Blood Type B

Hair: Blonde

A very attractive girl who is very outgoing but not very smart, her father is a newscaster.

Kana Ushiro, aka Kana

4th Grade

130cm

Blood Type O

Hair: Black

Ushiro's younger sister, despite her her timid appearance she is actually very brave.


	2. Chapter 1: The Seaside Contractor

And now for the first chapter of my Fanfic. Again, I don't own any of the material present within this work, as it is solely being used for a fan-based work.

_---------_

It was in the summer of our first year being middle school students that we had finally begun to see the true value of not only our lives, but of the whole world around us, as well. The weight of every single person on this planet was heaved unto our shoulders the day that we encountered 'it', despite how ignorant we had been of it at the time. And from the very moment that 'it' came into our lives, our youth had ended, leaving us to bear the true weight of adulthood and learn all that there was to being human. Through the days that the twenty of us endured together, we truly came to understand what it truly meant to live. What it meant to hate. To cry. To kill. To love. To die.

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Chapter 1. The Seaside Contractor

August 15, 2004

Sunlight shone brightly onto the countless graves of sand, heating the foot's sole for those among the twenty children that were not wearing sandals. With it being such a nice day out and their lessons done for the day, one of the dozen classes participating in the Mitomo City Summer Education Program had decided to take full advantage of such a day and enjoy a fun relaxing day at the city's beach.

Many of the students barely knew each other, but those within the separate classes seemed to form their own type of posse. This class, in particular, seemed to take the most advantage of the fact that the summer school was actually by a BEACH, as the twenty classmates hardly saw anyone else from the summer school outside with them. A fact that they would find to be convenient for today, but could not see how inconvenient it would be for them in the days to come.

All across the beach, all of the kids had found something to occupy themselves. Takashi Waku was rebounding his soccer ball off the rocks. Aiko Tokosumi decided to go for a swim in the ocean. Chizuru Honda just happened to be swimming, as well. Daiichi Yamura and Mako Nakarai were sitting by the rocks and talking.

Isao Kako was standing by the shore, gazing at Chizu swimming. Yosuke Kirie came up and made a comment to him, resulting in Kako slapping him in the back of the head. Maki Ano and Maria Ichinose were playing frisbee with Yoko Machi and little Kana Ushiro, the youngest in the class. Nagi Namoto and Tsubasa Hiiragi were laying on their towels, taking in the sun's rays, when eventually they decided to join in the frisbee game as well.

Both Takami Komoda and Masaru Kodaka had decided to use this time out at the beach to read a book, Komo was reading The Awakening, and Kodama was reading a science fiction novel, most likely 1984. They both must have been very caught up into their books, as Kanji Yoshikawa and Junji Karita had been sitting by the two, hyping over the release of some new video game for Playstation that Maki had told them about earlier.

Kunihiko Moji, on the other hand, simply watched the others passed the early afternoon with happiness. He found it nice to be around such a lively bunch. Well, save for one or two of the more dull ones who had kept to themselves, mainly Mayako Makishima and Jun Ushiro, Kana's older brother.

* * *

"Hey, Moji!" He turned to see Waku calling out to him, his right arm holding a soccer ball and his left arm waving him over.

"How long are you just gonna just sit there and stare, man? C'mon. How 'bout we play a quick game?"

"Waku," Moji warmly responded, "why would you bring that thing? We're all the way on the beach."

"Yeah, but most of the others are either swimming or sunbathing on the rocks, and the only other thing going on is frisbee." Waku then tossed the ball up in the air to bounce it off his foot. "And I'm a lot better at sports where I can kick something."

"Waku! Head's up!"

Before Waku could turn to face the familiarly tomboyish voice of Maki Ano, the accursed frisbee he went on about made a hard landing with the surface of his forehead, causing him to lose the kick of his soccer ball.

"Augh! Dammit, Maki! Would you watch your aim?!"

"I think her aim was just about right." This sarcastic response came from none other than Maria, Waku's friend from school. As Waku and the two girls went on, the rest of the group began to gather to the commotion.

"Man, you guys broke my balance. I had a good thirty kicks in a row going there."

"Oh, yeah?" Kako replied, eagerly grabbing the ball so as to show off, "I bet I could top that with no sweat."

"Hey, you're more than welcome to try." replied Waku. Kako seemed to take this as an insult as he hastily tossed the ball to kick it, only to kick it hard into the rocks, causing it to rebound harshly. Everyone jolted their heads right at it with a fear of getting hit, mainly Kana, who the ball would of hit had it not been for the interception from Ushiro.

"Would you watch it, you moron. You're gonna give somebody a concussion." Ushiro said quite harshly to Kako.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know how hard to kick it?" Kako lamely responded, as if to excuse himself, "Like I've ever played soccer before."

"Hey, what's going on over here?" Anko asked curiously, returning from her swim with Chizu.

"Nothin' much," replied Kanji, "Waku and Kako were just having a little kick-off."

"C'mon, Kako. Kana could have gotten hurt..." Kirie added in before facing another slap across the head by Kako's hand.

"Okay! would you all quit rubbing it in my face?! God!" Kako seemed to be really agitated by Kirie's small comment, as if everyone in the class was ganging up on him.

"Forget about it, guys," Maya replied from the sidelines, picking up the frisbee that hit Waku's head. "Let's just let bygones bey bygones and enjoy the nice day," she added as she tossed the frisbee with a hard aim.

The group couldn't help but notice how much distance the frisbee got, almost as if the wind was dragging towards a specific area. The frisbee then proceeded to drift across the ocean, heading towards what appeared to be a shack out in the sea connected to the shore by a small pier. Eventually, the frisbee managed to go so far that it tapped the window of the shack.

"Jeez, Maya," Kanji stated, "I wouldn't have thought that you would be able to throw THAT far."

"My bad," Maya retorted, showing slight embarassment.

"Well, I guess we're going to have to go get it," Waku soon implied, "I hope whoever lives there won't be too pissed off, or anything." They had no idea that the owner of that shack had their eyes on them throughout the whole day.

* * *

Soon, the whole group arrived at the shack to apologize. Maki and Maria had originally wanted to go apologize by themselves, since it was their frisbee in the first place, but eventually Waku managed to convince everyone to come along.

"So, who's gonna knock?" Kako asked, nervously, "Well, don't think of asking me to do it. I wasn't the one who overshot the stupid frisbee."

"No, that would be the soccer ball that almost gave my sister a concussion that YOU overshot," Ushiro retorted, immediately pissing Kako off. "Whatever, I'll knock." And so Ushiro proceeded to do so.

The door was almost immediately answered by a tall, pale-looking man who looked to be about in his thirties with white hair and rimmed glasses. The man appeared to be almost as friendly as he did shady at the same time.

"Oh, can I help you children?" The man inquired.

"Well, uh," Machi nervously began, feeling slightly off-put, "Y'see, we were kinda playing on the beach, and we accidently threw that frisbee over there towards your house, and..."

"Oh, so that was you kids. That was you kids....." The man murmured to himself, "Well, don't worry about it. It looks like you barely scratched it, anyway."

"W-well, uh..." Machi went on, "I guess we'll just take it and be on our way, then..."

"Oh, wait. Do you have to leave right now?" The man almost immediately asked, "Are you sure you wouldn't want to stay for a bit? Maybe if I could offer you some tea-"

"Thanks, but we really should be go-" Maki began, but then she caught a glimpse of some of the man's inner possessions, discovering that his shack was chockfull of computers. "Hey, mister, what's up with the crazy setup."

"Oh right, my computers. My computers....." The man replied, "Well you see, I'm actually here working on this project, and I usually come here from time to time for some inspiration for development on certain ideas. Game development, if you will."

"Wait, you mean you're a game developer?" Karita immediately asked with much enthusiasm.

"Oh, yes, I am. Yes, I am..." He replied very monotonously, "To be honest, I was just working on a new game for which I could use kids like yourselves." The kids looked at him very cautiously due to that comment. "Oh, as beta testers, of course. Of course...Why don't you come inside and I'll tell you all about it."

Though the kids felt very weary of him, they ended up coming into his shack. It was much more spacious than it looked from the outside, though surprisingly the only source of light the man had in his shack aside from his computer monitors came from his windows; he didn't have a single lamp or light of any kind in his roof.

"So, what sort of game ARE you making here?" Nakama asked very straightforwardly.

"Oh, it's a very interesting game, actually, though the setup is a tad cliché" The man quickly answered, "The game centers around an invasion from a certain number of enemies, specifically twenty enemies in this case. And the only defense that the Earth has to protect itself will be a colossal robot, nay, a pitch black behemoth, gifted with strength beyond mortal reckoning. This robot, kids, is to be helmed by none other than...yourselves."

"Dude, that DOES sound pretty cool!" Maki stated. There seemed to be a bright shine in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm game." Kanji added.

"Well," said Waku, "I don't mind trying it out, I guess."

"Me neither," said Moji.

"Oh, well then," The man enthusiastically interjected. He then pulled out a red, arrow-like metal plate "If you're all interested, all you have to do is place you hand on this plate to 'contract' yourselves as pilots. It sounds corny, I know, but it'll be necessary for my program's server to let you play the game."

"Okay, I'll try it out," Waku said as he placed his hand on the plate. A text then flickered on one of the man's computers.

_Takashi Waku, Age 13, Type B, Born March 20th 1991._

"W-whoa..." Waku stated with much surprise, "How does it know all that about me?"

"Cool! Can I try next?" Maki asked excitedly.

_Maki Ano, Age 13, Type O, Born July 19th 1991._

"Me too!" Kako hastily interjected.

_Isao Kako, Age 13, Type B, Born August 4th 1991._

Soon, many of the others started to sign up.

_Kunihiko Moji, Age 13, Type AB, Born June 20th 1991._

_Mako Nakarai, Age 12, Type A, Born September 9th 1991._

_Tsubasa Hiiragi, Age 13, Type AB, Born June 22nd 1991._

_Kanji Yoshikawa, Age 13, Type O, Born May 3rd 1991._

_Daiichi Yamura, Age 13, Type A, Born May 19th 1991._

_Maria Ichinose, Age 13, Type O, Born March 20th 1991._

_Nagi Namoto, Age 13, Type AB, Born June 18th 1991._

_Aiko Tokosumi, Age 13, Type B, Born August 12th 1991._

_Junji Karita, Age 13, Type O, Born July 21st 1991._

_Yoko Machi, Age 12, Type B, Born December 5th 1991._

_Masaru Kodaka, Age 13, Type O, Born December 29th 1990._

_Takami Komoda, Age 13, Type A, Born March 15th 1991._

_Chizuru Honda, Age 13, Type AB, Born February 14th 1991._

Kirie had been next in line to sign up, but he seemed to be very hesitant in making a decsion.

"What's up, Kirie?" Waku curiously asked.

"I...I dunno, guys," Kirie nervously mumbled, "I'm just not sure about all this-" but before eh could finish, Kako impatiently slapped his hand on the pad.

_Yosuke Kirie, Age 12 Type A, Born October 15th 1991._

"Hey, what the hell, Kako?!" Waku stated. "Couldn't you've given him a minute to think about it?"

"Hey, the sooner we all sign up, the sooner we can play," Kako simply stated. Maya then proceeded to sign up. She seemed to give a smirk as she did so.

_Mayako Makishima, Age 12, Type A, Born August 29th 1991._

Next to go up was Kana. Before signing up, however, she took a hopeful look at her brother.

"Jun, aren't you going to play?" Kana asked.

"Nah, I don't think so." Ushiro simply stated.

"But," Kana added, "I'd really like you to play, too. Otherwise it won't be as fun."

"C'mon, Ushiro," Waku butted in, "If we end up not liking it, we can always quit." The man looked at Waku sympathetically for making that statement.

Ushiro finally gave in. "Oh, fine, I'll do it. You go ahead and sing up first Kana. I'll do it after."

Feeling a bit happier, Kana proceeded to sign up as her brother asked her to do.

_Kana Ushiro, Age 10, Type O, Born June 25th 1994._

_Jun Ushiro, Age 12, Type A, Born Noember 20th 1991._

"Oh, well judging from your ages, I would guess that you children are in middle school." The man assessed.

"Well, aside from Kana, yes," Waku retorted, "So how exactly do we play this game of yours, Mr.....Oh. What's your name, anyway?"

The man hesitated for a moment. "Oh, well...You can just call me 'Kokopelli'."

The children looked at this Kokopelli man very curiously, with him stating that he would have a name like THAT.

"Just think of it as a pen name, if you'd like," Kokopelli quickly added. He then took a long pause. "Well, it seems the game has now begun."

The curios feelings the kids held towards Kokopelli only grew from that one line.

"Hang on," Katari inquired, "Isn't this supposed to be a computer game, or something?" He noticed that the gaze in Kokopelli's eyes began to darken.

"No, I'm afraid not," Kokopelli stated very abruptly. "That will all be made very clear to you, very soon."

The kids stared at him far more curiously than before, as if they were talking to a whole other person. "The next time we meet, I will demonstrate how to play the game to you. Until then, please try not to worry."

And before the kids could say anything, a wave of static overwhelmed them.

"Ugh, what happened..." Daichi felt very sore after waking up from his nap on the rocks, although the nice and calm sunset upon the shoreline was able to help him feel a bit better. "Jeez, how late is it....Aw, man! Did I get left behin-"

But before he could finish, he immediately noticed that all the other kids were around him, and were sleeping as well. Waku slowly started to awaken from the deep pitch of Daichi's voice.

"Nmm...Hey, Daichi....Ugh, what time is it?" Waku groggily asked.

"I'd have to say it's pretty late in the afternoon," Daichi responded. "Look behind you." And so Waku slowly turned to face the sunset.

"Man, that's beautiful....wait.....Aw, man!" Waku suddenly realized exactly HOW late it must have been. "The teach is gonna throw a fit if we're late for dinner. Hey guys, get up!"

Slowly, all of the other classmates began to awaken from their mysterious slumber. As they all got up, nobody had made mention of how it is they came to sleep on the beach, or about the strange dream they unknowingly all shared: that dream about the man at the shack who signed them all into that strange game with the robot.

Once they had returned to the school building, the teacher had given them but a light scolding on the late hour of their arrival before letting them eat in the dining hall. Kids from the other classes that were in the dining hall snickered at them. As they all sat together, eating their dinners and conversing with one another, Katari couldn't help but let out a sigh pinging towards disappointment.

"What's wrong, Katari?" Moji asked.

"Ah, nothing really, guys," Katari replied, "It's just that game seemed like it'd be really fun...Aw never mind. I'm just talkin' about that stupid dream I had." Yet he noticed that as soon as he mentioned 'game', everyone gave him a slightly shocked look of disbelief. "W-wait a minute. Do...do you guys know what I'm talking about?"

"That dream," Komo replied, "about the man in the shack who wanted us to play a game?"

"Y-yes. Exactly...." Katari said with amazement.

"That's too weird," Anko added to the disbelief. "We couldn't have all had the same dream, right?"

"Then that could only mean," Chizu coldly replied, "that it wasn't a dream at all."

"In that case," Maria inquired, "wasn't that Kokopelli guy supposed to teach us about the ga-"

But before she could finish, a huge rumbling sound vibrated through the building, knocking everyone onto the ground. But before the group hit the floor, the static wave overtook them once again.

They were still lying on the ground, but they all noticed immediately that it wasn't the ground of their school building. Rather, they found themselves in a rounded, spacious, brown-tinted area.

"W-where the hell are we?" Kako immediately asked, expecting someone to give him a quick and simple response.

"This is the cockpit," a voice replied to Kako. A voice familiar in his dreams. In all of their dreams.

The children then all turned to find that Kokopelli was in fact among them, sitting within a black armchair with three slender legs. He appeared differently than he did at first, however, as he now lacked the glasses he had on, and instead had a scar across his left cheek. He was also dressed completely in a long-sleeved black body suit with black boots. He almost appeared like a shadow, were it not for the pale gleam of his skin and hair.

"I told you, didn't I?" Kokopelli asked. "We meet again, so now I am going to show you how to operate this robot."

"What?!" Waku exclaimed. "We're actually inside a ROBOT right now?"

"Don't beileve me?" Kokopelli plainly responded. "See for yourself." The kids noticed that the brown-tint had disappeared, and replacing it was a breathtaking view of the entire area around them. The kids could see the beach, their school building, the city across. And just below them, they were able to make out a pair of long, black legs jetting to the ocean from beneath them. They WERE inside of a robot.

"This is incredible..." Kodama said without realizing that he was speaking out loud.

"Hey, what's that in front of us?" Maki pointed out. The kids all turned to face the front and see that Maki was not lying. A figure began to emerge before the robot from some kind of rift.

"It's time" Kokopelli said, with words filled with shear remorse.

-End of Ch.1-

In the next chapter: The game finally begins to unfold, as Kokopelli shows the kids how to operate the black behemoth to fight against the enemy emerging before them. Just how does this game work? Just who is Kokopelli? And what, if anything, could he have to hide? Find the answers to these questions in Chapter Two: Kokopelli vs. Arachne!

Auugh! Finally done with my first chapter. I didn't think the timing and managing ow to write this stuff would take so much work.

Anyway, sorry about the late start. Now I can REALLY give people something to read, and hopefully something to continue on. I write this fanfic with hopeful intent that readers will read stories like these and inform their friends of this manga/anime, because BOKURANO DESERVES MORE FANS!!!!!

Thank you for reading, and please try to stay tuned for the next chapter.

-King-of-Wings-360


	3. Chapter 2: Kokopelli vs Arachne

Now, after what is scarcely counted for as long anticipation, it's time for Chapter 2!

I don't own any of the material within this piece.

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Chapter 2. Kokopelli vs. Arachne

August 15, 2004

A few seconds after the large impact, the children in the dining hall slowly began to get back up on their feet. Many of them were in a state of question and panic, curious if that impact may have been an earthquake, unquestioning to how any earthquake could be so short. And then, the children were faced with a second impact, immediately knocking them all on the ground once more. By this time, the teachers had all entered the dining hall to evacuate the children.

As the respective classes hurried outside of the building to evacuate, they couldn't help but notice that out in the ocean, there were two colossal figures facing each other. The first, a black, humanoid creature with long slender arms and legs, with spikes jetting out from its chest towards its shoulders. The second, a pale white, insect-like creature with four long legs holstering it and two smaller pairs beneath it, dominated by a rounded head with a small tongue-like appendage in the front.

Before any of the children had time to question this, the teachers kept moving them along to evacuate. Apparently, they were already aware that these two creatures were the cause of the rumbling earlier, and were urging the kids away from them for their own safety. The teachers were able to see to it that all of their classes were safely away, except for a few that they couldn't seem to find anywhere within the school area; a group of children that came in later than the others.

* * *

This same group of kids were amazed to see how the insect-like creature had seemed to appear before them out of nowhere.

"Ugh," Anko exclaimed, with a grossed-out tense, "What's that gross looking thing supposed to be, anyway?"

"That is the first enemy," Kokopelli retorted, apparently unfazed by it's appearance, "that must be defeated to protect the Earth."

"Protect the Earth?" Waku stated, surprised by such a general response as that, "You mean that thing is a threat to the whole planet?"

"Unless the enemies much like this one are defeated within 48 hours, it is almost guaranteed that they will go on a rampage and attack everything within their path," explained Kokopelli.

"Why 48 hours?" asked Maki.

"That is the maximum amount of time allowed to operate the robot," Kokopelli continued to instructively explain, "Any longer, and the power supply of the robot will eventually give in, and it will no longer be operational."

This comment caused some discontent amongst the kids.

"Don't worry," Kokopelli reassured, "If you focus on the way that I battle the enemy, you should be able to defeat it long before the time limit is up."

Before the kids could ask anything else, they noticed that a small pack of military jets were flying over the robot that they were riding in.

"Whoa," Maki stated, "Those must be from the Self Defense Force."

"So that's the military of this planet..." Kokopelli murmured to himself. Waku had overheard him, however, and was about to ask what he was implying, when he noticed that the enemy began to move.

"Hey!" Waku pointed out, "It looks like the enemy's spotted them, or something!"

"No," Kokpelli retorted, "It's beginning its attack on us."

The kids soon found that he was not lying, as a massive array of lighting-type energy was being formed from the orb in the center of the enemy's head, releasing a powerful bolt at their robot. This attack drew the kids into some slight panic, but Kokopelli remained unfazed by its attack.

"Jeez!" Katari exclaimed, "What the hell kind of an attack is that!?"

"Nothing to worry about," Kokopelli reassured, "That was nothing more than a low-powered attack. It will barely do any damage to the robot. Now, perhaps we should try to attack, as well."

The kids were still slightly shocked by the very real sensation of the enemy's attack that had lightly echoed through the surface of the cockpit, but before any of them could say anything, they began to notice that their robot was beginning to move towards the enemy.

"W-what?" Maria blurted, "Are we moving?"

"Of course." The kids were unsurprised to see how quickly Kokopelli retorted. "It's a very basic system of operation, really. Simply command the actions of the robot with your thoughts of its actions, and it will obey and execute them. This is my first time moving it and even I find it to be relatively easy."

"F-First time?" Katari exclaimed. "But I thought that you made this game!"

"No, I'm afraid that I wasn't completely honest with you, at first." Kokopelli replied. "You see, like you kids, I am no more than a mere pawn in the greater meaning of this game."

The kids were put at strong unease at this comment, when Kokopelli replied, "Please pay no mind to it. For now, simply sit back and watch so as to learn how to win the game." And with that, the kids were forced to draw their attention to the battle.

As their robot moved closer to the enemy, it had begun to move towards them, as well, though the kids noticed that the enemy moved slightly slower than them, the likely reason being that their robot was bipedal, while the enemy had four legs to work with. As the distance between the two grew shorter, the enemy tried to use it's front limbs to attack them. It managed to execute a powerful swing upon the right side of their robot, as they felt a portion of the force from its swing.

"Hmm," Kokopelli noticed that the blow had caused some of the side armor to chip. "This method of attack isn't quite as effective for it, either. Still, if we don't start fighting back now, there could be problems."

"T-Then hurry up and start fighting back, already!" Kako shouted.

"I know. Don't panic."

And with that, Kokopelli used the arm of the robot to pierce into the pit of the enemy's front left limb, a multitude of thin lasers shooting out of the arm in the process.

"Wait," Moji asked, "this robot has an energy attack, too?"

"Yes," Kokopeli replied, "The robot comes standard with a high-powered laser pulse that can be emitted from any part of the structure. While it isn't as effective for external damage as the robot's incredible raw strength is, it can do a vast range of damage to the internal structure."

As a result from the lasers, the limb was quickly torn off, causing the enemy to stumble and draw back. Kokopelli replied to this by moving further towards the enemy and repeating the tactic with both arms to its two rear limbs. After which, the enemy leaped high through the cloud of smoke that the lasers caused and onto the mountain range nearby the school.

"It's trying to run away," Maya pointed out.

"That's no good." Kokopelli quickly rushed towards the enemy and slammed the robot's arm into its chest so as to knock it over. It then pinned the enemy to the ground with its arm. "If the enemy manages to evade us for too long, it will begin to regenerate and its strength will likely increase greatly."

"Is there anyway to defeat it, altogether?" Kirie quietly asked.

"There is only one way," Kokopelli grimly replied. Following his reply, the robot used its spare arm to tear away at the chest of the now cornered enemy. As it tore away further, the children saw that a large, spherical center lay in the middle of its now exposed chest. Kokopelli tore this sphere from its chest and held it up for the children to see.

"This is the way," he explained. "Each of the enemies that must be fought contains a certain core that allows them to regenerate. It usually varies in location within the enemy, but it will most often be located in the chest area. It is absolutely for you to find this core, and see to it that you completely destroy it." And with that, the robot emitted a smaller laser attack from the palm of its hand, obliterating the core to smithereens and notably killing the enemy.

"Well, I suppose that's all that there is to it," Kokopelli soon stated. "Now that my part is finished, it will be your turn the next time around to fight for the protection of the earth. Good luc-"

"Wait," Ushiro butted in. "There are still some more things that I think we need to cover." This time, Kokopelli took longer to reply to the statement than usual. This moment of taking his time to answer seemed very off-putting and put the kids at a bit of worry when he finally responded.

"Don't worry about that," Kokopelli finally replied. "My job as the demonstrator may be over, but I will still be here as your guide. Although the next time you see me, I may not quite be the same person you are familiar with, now."

Before Ushiro could reply to this, he noticed that the robot and the enemy began to disappear. The others soon followed his gesture.

"It looks like our time is up, for now." They looked back up to face Kokopelli's back as he stated this. "Until we meet again, I will be here if you ever need me." The kids soon felt a strange pressure, and realized that the static would soon take them over again. Before they teleported, Ushiro could swear that he heard a faint whisper come from the man.

_God forgive m-_

* * *

And suddenly the kids found themselves back in the dining hall of the school, Except now they were the only people present within it.

"Hey, where is everybody?" Kana asked.

"I don...WAIT!" Nakama responded. "They must have all evacuated to the center square for shelter."

"Crap!" Waku exclaimed. "We'd better hurry before they start to worry too much about us!"

So the group quickly rushed out of the building to Mitomo's center square to meet up with the teachers and other students.

* * *

Once they arrived, sure enough, they were met with a great deal of hell to pay for going off like that, but it was nothing that couldn't be discussed later. So the kids were sent off into one of the unoccupied parts of the square to rest for safety. As they went, they noticed that the other classes began to look at them funny and whisper about them. They finally arrived and sat next to one another in a circle.

"Unbelievable," Daichi stated. "I-I just can't believe that all really just happened."

"But you guys saw, right?" Tsubasa responded. "Just before we left, the robot was still fazing away into the air."

"Yeah, It must've happened," Nagi quickly retorted.

"So, we really are gonna pilot it," Waku stated.

"We have the whole world depending on the twenty of us," Nakama added.

"Then, that makes us like heroes, or something right?" Maki asked enthusiastically.

"Which means we'll have to try all the harder," Kirie added, "to see to it that we succeed."

"Well, at any rate," Maria stated, "it's at least agreed that there's no turning back. We're all in this together right?" Everybody nodded in greement.

"Also, it would probably be better for us to keep this a secret," Chizu calmly stated. Everybody looked at her curiously over this comment. "I mean, if we tell anyone about it, we may lose our chance to pilot it."

"Agreed," Moji replied. "We're all in this together, so it's our secret to keep together." Everybody nodded in agreement once more.

Then Kana turned to face her brother, and noticed that he seemed to be bothered by something.

"Is something wrong, Jun?" Kana curiously asked her brother.

"It's just," Ushiro thoughtfully responded, "I could've sworn he was saying something, just before we left."

Everyone now looked at Ushiro curiously upon this statement.

"It sounded like....like he was apologizing for something."

-End of Ch. 2-

In the next chapter: The kids are still left in awe from the incredible battle that they are all now a part of, and as promised, the mysterious Kokopelli makes a comeback, but in a different way than the kids expected. The story unfolds even further in the next addition of Chapter Three: New Chairs.

URRRGH!! Writing this turned out to be much harder than I thought, especially with all the crap that I keep getting piled with. But anyway, I finally have the next one up; that's what counts in the end. Hopefully, the next one won't take quite as long.

Again, thank you for reading.

-King-of-Wings-360


	4. Chapter 3: New Chairs

After some input from my colleagues, I should probably apologize for how similar the last chapter seemed to the original story. But rest assured, that's practically as close to the original plot as the story is going to get from this point.

I own none of the content within this work, except for my fandom.

Chapter 3. New Chairs

August 23, 2004

It had been eight days since the two giant behemoths had appeared at Mitomo Island. Throughout those eight days, the fight between the two had made all the major headlines of news stories across the country and beyond, and became an immensely popular icon throughout the mass voices on the Internet. Kanji and Katari had been looking into this throughout all their spare time in those eight days, when they weren't cleaning the classes as punishment for taking off during the evacuation.

"Kanji," Waku called from the enterance to the computer lab, "are you and Katari still glued to those things? You guys said that you were only gonna take a break for, like, ten minutes."

"Sorry," Kanji responded, "but, man, you should see this. Almost every few seconds, a new page is added to this search engine with loads of links. People have really gotten into this all acrsoo the web. You wouldn't even think that it's only been eight days since those two robots showed up."

"Hey," Kako interjected, "is there anything on us in there!?"

"As if," Katari replied. "I mean, we all agreed that we would keep this between the twenty of us, didn't we?" Kako had a look of disappointment plastered all over his face.

"The Internet isn't the only place you can hear about this," Anko said. "The news is getting a huge break out of it, too. It's pretty funny to think that I'd be involved in one of my dad's top stories." She seemed very cheery about it, yet felt a bit depressed after making such a comment.

"Top stories?" Kako asked, sarcastically. "What, is your dad supposed to be, like, on the news, or something?"

"Well, yeah," Waku replied. "Her dad's Akira Tokosumi from News Claimer. I've seen a lot of his work. He's pretty much the reason that it's the top news program on TV in Japan. I thought you would've known that, Kako."

"Okay! Okay! Shut up about it, already!" Kako snapped back. Anko couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"Still," Katari intervened, "you'd be amazed how many online blogs are loaded with praise and fandom over the fight."

"The last time I checked," Kanji added, "some guys even started online cults for the one that we were riding in."

"Jeez," Ushiro replied, "The Internet really DOES have everything." Kana nodded her head to him in agreement.

"It's been a while since the fight, though," stated Chizu, "hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Machi replied. "I was kinda expecting that the next fight would start sooner."

"To be honest," Maya added, "I think that I'm beginning to lose interest in riding in that robot again."

"Well, yeah," Moji stated, "but then again, isn't it a good thing that they aren't coming too quickly? I mean, think of how much of an uproar people would be if these battles just came day after day."

"It...it's all just too surreal to me," Daichi butted in, "if you guys want to know the truth." Everyone looked at him, surprised by that comment. "I know it's pretty crazy to think so, but for the past few days I've just been thinking to myself tat maybe we were never in that robot. Maybe we were knocked out after falling from our table." An uncomfortable feeling loomed around the room, followed by small murmurs of unease and understanding towards Daichi's opinion.

"It wouldn't do you very good to think that way."

The group was startled from the familiar voice that came mysteriously came from the room, as they all began to scan the room for the person who called to them.

"Okay, who's screwing around with us?" Ushiro questioned to the mystery voice when he looked up to the ceiling to see a strange little creature floating above their group. It didn't take long for the other kids to take notice of this creature once Ushiro let out a surprised gasp form laying his eyes on such a thing.

"W-what the hell is that?" Kako nervously questioned. The very creature that the group was staring at would best be described as having a large pale-white mushroom-cap head with black beady eyes, a small square nose, a rounded smile that stretched all around it's head, and big black cheeks, a long scar visible on one of them. Atop this giant white head was a pair of curved ears pointed at the ends, and from the bottom came a tail of sorts with four pointed ends.

"God! What IS that?" Maria excalimed.

"I have no ide-" Waku retorted before something came to his mind. "Wait. Could it be..." With the voice calling out to them earlier being so eerily recognizable and the oh so familiar scar across the creature's cheek, Waku was able to put two and two together with this scenario. "Kokopelli?"

"That's right." The creature answered, its mouth revealing a set of small pointed teeth that never opened. "It's good to see you all again. I apologize if it's been too long since we last met." While the kids were still in awe over the strange creature that was hovering before them, they did feel a slight sense of comfort from having actually known that it used to be a person that they were familiar with.

"Well," Ushiro spoke up after the bewilderment, "you've finally shown up again. So now can I ask you what it is that I wanted to know before."

"Oh, yes, of course," Kokopelli replied. "I'd be more than happy to answer any questions that you kids may have now."

"Well, first of all-" Ushiro began, until Kako bluntly interrupted him.

"I wanna ask first!" Kako blurted out. "Are we gonna get to pilot the robot again!? Do we get some kinda reward for this!? Are we gonna be heroes for saving the world!?"

"You really shouldn't interrupt people, so I will only answer your first question for YOU," Kokopelli replied. Everyone chuckled at Kokopelli's response, and Kako's face was again plastered with a look of disappointment. "And to answer your question, yes, you will get to pilot the robot again. All of you will, since you all signed the contract. Now, what was your first question going to be?" He meant Ushiro, of course.

"Right.," Ushiro assured. "First of all, exactly how dangerous is this going to be?"

"Well, I should say that the amount of danger in the situation solely depends on how you perform as a pilot." Kokopeli replied. "And your next question?"

"Mind if I go next?" Moji asked, to whom he simply shrugged his shoulders in approval. "Where exactly is the robot right now."

"I currently saw to keeping the robot hidden in the water," Kokopelli simply stated. "Once we're all finished with the questions, I was actually planning on sending you there. The inside of the robot, I mean."

"Are the enemies we fight always gonna be that gross?" Anko interjected.

"Gross?" Kokopelli seemed to be off-put by the of her question. "Well, they don't all look the same. Really, the enemies come in a wide variety of forms, so I wouldn't no if all of them could be considered 'gross'."

"Uh, I've been meaning to ask," Machi stated, "What's up with the new look? I mean, is this what you really look like? Did you just disguise yourself as a human for us or, well, what?"

"Hmm... How should I put it..." Kokopelli pondered for a bit on how to answer this, when he finally came to a sensible response. "Let's just say that my previous form was the form I took on as your instructor, and this form here is the form I've chosen to take on as your guide. More or less, though, I am still Kokopelli, the one and the same. So, anything else?" For a while, nobody could think of another question, until Komo finally raised her hand and began her question.

"Is it possible at all," Komo asked, "to drop out of these battles."

"I'm afraid," Kokopelli answered, "that you will not be able to drop out of them. No." The group gave him a surprised look based on this reply. "Since you children are all a part of the contract now, It will be your duty now to see to it that you fight these battles and win for the sake of the earth. It's as simple as that." There was a pause among them after a while. "Well, if that's all for the questions, let's be on our way to the cockpit."

"W-wait!" Waku hastily asked before Kokoeplli would begin the teleportation "Sorry, but there's just one thing that I want to make frank. This IS all a game, isn't it?"

* * *

"Undoubtably," Kokopelli bluntly stated, putting Waku at a bit of unease. "Well, I suppose it's right about time for us to go now." And with that, the ever-pestering static returned to take them.

The static then went as soon as it had come, and the group found itself within the brown-tinted cockpit.

"Back in the cockpit again," Kanji commented.

"Back in the robot again, too," Daichi abruptly added.

"Weird," Maya stated. "Now that we're back, it really doesn't seem like it's been that long since Kokopelli's fight." She had already forgotten that Kokopelli was still very much among them.

"Wait," Tsubasa exclaimed. "This is really different!"

Yeah," added Nagi. "What happened to all the chairs that were here last time?" The rest of the kids began to notice that was. The cockpit was almost completely vacant aside from their presence, the ring of chairs from the last fight now nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, I took the liberty of removing them since you kids won't be needing them this time around," Kokopelli quickly responded. Some of the kids looked very puzzled by this comment. Meanwhile, Kokopelli had then noticed that one of the children, Kodama, had stumbled upon a familiar object: Kokopelli's glasses, which, as it turend out, were fake. "Huh. I was sure that I had gotten rid of those since last time."

"Well, this is where I found them," Kodama stated. "I don't suppose you'd mind if I hang on to these?"

"By all means," Kokopelli replied. "I won't need them, anymore." And with that, Kodama applied the fake glasses to the bridge of his nose. "Anyway," Kokopelli continued, "I think it's right about time that I looked into your minds."

"Wait, what?! What do you mean by that?!" Maria exclaimed, the other children clearly as startled as she was. But before anyone else could ask what he meant, the saw before them that a ring of objects seemed to have appeared before them. The kids were held in awe at this new spectacle; they were staring at a whole other ring of new chairs.

"This is what I meant," Kokopelli retorted after allowing them to absorb the moment. "I did say that you wouldn't need those old chairs, so I made you a whole set of new ones. I'm more than sure you should be able to recognize which ones belong to you."

Sure enough, a few of the children had already begun to flock towards each chair that they were individually all too familiar with.

Nagi had taken a metal folding chair next to a piano stool, which turned out to be Komo's, followed by Tsubasa who took the slim armchair to Nagi's right. Strangely enough, Moji had chosen the wheelchair to Tsubasa's right, which caused a bit of confusion amongst the kids.

Kodama went to a silver-lined Tobias chair that stood to the left of a baby crib. Nakama took the sewing chair to his left, followed by Daichi who took the cusion to Nakama's left, and Machi who sat in the fishing chair to Daichi's left.

Katari had quickly recognized the game chair in the ring to be his own, being that he was the major gamer in the group. Kanji then sat in the computer chair to Katari's left.

Among the group, everyone would have assumed that the childish chair next to Kanji's chair in the ring would have belonged to Kana, but were surprised to see that it actually belonged to Ushiro, with Kana taking the ottoman to the chair's right. Kako couldn't help but tease Ushiro over this.

Kako had quickly rested himself in the long white lounger chair in the right corner. Chizu then quietly took the fancy black chair next to him, and Kirie proceeded by sitting in the ornate stool next to Chizu. Anko was also quick to seek comfort in the large sofa in the bottom corner which she claimed to be hers.

Maki was conflicted on wether her chair was the baby crib in the left corner or the tirup swivel to the left of Anko's sofa. Maya quickly solved this confilction for her by claiming the tirup swivel to be her chair, assuring Maki to claim the crib for herself.

Maria then found herself a place on the tatami mat to the left of Machi's fishing chair, leaving only a sports bench in between her and Kirie, which Waku soon claimed to be his, just as everyone had expected. And with this, the kids found themselves sitting perfectly within the ring.

"Whoa," Machi exclaimed. "These chairs are actually pretty cool."

"Yeah," Anko added. "It feels like I'm floating."

"Before you all get too comfy," Kokopelli butted in,"I'd recommend that you all get up for a moment."

"For what?" Kako questioned. But before he could hear a response from Kokopelli, the kids noticed that the ring chairs had begun to spin clockwise with them still in it. Quickly, many of the children had begun to scream as the chairs spun faster and faster. They had been spinning so frequently that they were not able to notice the symbol that appeared on the floor: a red mark similar to that of the face plate of the robot. Finally, the spinning had begun to come to a cease, with Kirie's ornate stool floating atop the symbol, and Kirie himself too dizzy to notice.

"For that," Kokopelli replied.

"Auuughh..." Kanji groaned dizzily. "For future reference, guys, next time Kokopelli tells us to get off of the chairs, do it!" Everyone groaned in agreement.

_Yosuke Kirie_

Kirie was surprised to hear such an ominous voice come out from nowhere, and call his name, no less.

"Um...did," he nervously asked, "did any of you guys just hear that, too?" everyone looked at him with dumbfounded expressions. "T-that voice I mean," he quickly added.

"Hmm..." Kokopelli pondered. "I suppose that you're up first then."

"First?" Kirie asked. After a few seconds, however, he was able to come to a sudden realization. "W...wait. Does that mean.... **I'm** going to pilot it next?"

"Yes," Kokopelli plainly retorted.

The rest of the kids stared at him with a hint of bewilderment. They were all curious to see how Kirie would be able to handle this task. Kako looked noticeably agitated. Waku, however, noticed that Kirie seemed to be a bit distraught by everyone staring at him, so he tried to break the tension for him.

"All right!" Waku loudly announced to Kirie. "Let's do this, man!"

Minutes later, the kids were all teleported back into the computer lab, but with Kokopelli nowhere to be found.

"Huh?" Kana was slightly surprised. "We're back already?"

"Looks like it," Kanji calmly stated. The kids noticed that someone was heading their way who seemed to recognize their voices. Suddenly, they were met by the face of their homeroom teacher, who appeared to be notably agitated.

"You Kids!" the teacher declared. "Is THIS where you all went off to?!"

"Heheh...Yeah," Machi chuckled. "Sorry about that."

"I swear..." the teacher's teeth were practically seething, "You lot are really beginning to get on my last nerve..." Everyone shot him an embarrassed look with hopes that it would get them off the hook. This proved to be futile, as they were all given lunch detention in addition to cleaning the classrooms soon after the conflict in the lab.

"Good evening, and welcome to our late night session of News Claimer. For our first coverage of the night, local university reports have given conclusive data that the recent offshore earthquake at Mitomo Island was surprisingly shown to have a focal depth of 0km. While this is indeed unprecedented and never seen in recent records before, other professionals hold the standpoint that the rupture was clearly caused by the surprising appearance of the mechas that appeared only days ago..."

As Akira Tokosumi's broadcast was being shown over the late night news, his own daughter was watching him from one of the school's sofas on a large plasma-screen television.

"Wow, Anko," Maki stated, "Your dad is really good at this."

"Yeah," Anko replied. "He's really dedicated to his work."

Dinner had passed and the kids had all gone to their own little activities in one of the school's rather spacious lounges.

Anko had decided to watch a little television, and was accompanied by Maki, Kana, Machi, and Maria. Nakama, Daichi, Kodama, Tsubasa, Nagi, and Moji decided to get an early start on their summer homework. Maya and Chizu were tending to the laundry. Kanji went to surfing the web on his laptop. Komo was sitting beside him, reading her book, again. Katari had hunched over his Nintendo DS for over an hour, with Kirie and Kako spectating.

"Hey!" Kako blurted, shoving Kirie to the side. "Why don't ya scoot over and give us some room, Mr. Big-Shot Pilot!"

"Uh...s-sorry," Kirie unnecessarily apologized, and with that, he went to the patio door to take a walk outside. Kako soon got bored and went over to Kanji at his laptop.

"Hey, anything come up about us yet?" he asked.

"If nothing came up an hour ago, where would you get the idea that there would be anything now?" Kanji sarcastically questioned. The third plastered look of disappointment in a row bestowed itself upon Kako's face as a few of the kids chuckled.

Ushiro was quietly sitting by the glass patio door, keeping his eyes on Kana. He had come to notice that aside from Kirie, who had just gone outside, the only other person missing from their group was Waku.

"Hey, Maria," he asked, "You know where Waku is?"

"Huh?" she pondered. "Oh, yeah. Earlier he said he wanted to get a breath of fresh air, or something like that." Ushiro got up and saw through the glass door that Maria was right. Waku was at the outer portion of the patio, with Kirie heading in his direction.

Kirie walked on towards Waku as he kept strong concentration on bouncing his soccer ball off of his foot. Eventually, Kirie's presence caught his attention, so he caught his ball so as to talk with him.

"Oh, hey Kirie," Waku said. "What's up?"

"Umm...well I just went to take a walk, but when I saw that you were out here too...actually I wanted to talk with you about something," Kirie replied.

"Sure thing, man," Waku cheerfully replied. "What's on your mind?" Kirie seemd to be a bit hesitant in his first question. Then he finally went on with it.

"Do...do you think that you could maybe take my place as the first pilot?" he asked. Waku looked surprised by this comment, but soon immediately understood why he would ask.

"You don't feel very confident in yourself?" Waku asked in retort.

"Well...no," Kirie answered. "I really don't think that I'd be able to do it."

"C'mon, dude." Waku replied while slapping him on the shoulder. "I know it may be a bit overwhelming, but you've gotta have at least a little bit of confidence in yourself." Neither of them noticed Ushiro coming down to them.

"Well, this all just seems too big for a person like me," Kirie stated. "I honestly can't see myself doing something like this."

"Whaddya mean?" Ushiro butted in. Kirie and Waku were surprised to see that Ushiro had come out as well, and joined into their conversation even.

"Well," Kirie began, "for a long time now, I've questioned the real value that my own life holds. I eventually came to terms with the fact that I'm really no more than a person with an ambivalent life. Just any other individual. For someone like me to be given the task to do a part in saving the Earth, it's way too surreal to me."

Waku looked puzzled that Kirie would think of himself in such a way. "I'm not too sure that I understand, but go on."

"That's not to say that I've always thought like this," Kirie continued. "Actually, go back a year or two ago, you probably wouldn't see me as the person that I am now. In most part because of my older cousin, Kazuko. I was always picked on when I was younger, mainly because of my obesity, but the fact that my family and I are poor might have added on to that. Whenever I had Kazuko around, though, she would always be there by my side to protect me from kids that picked on me. Really, I don't think that I would have made it through primary school without her being there for me."

"You care about her a lot, huh?" Ushiro asked.

"You guys know the stool that I was given as my chair?" Kirie reotrted. They both nodded. "That was hers. She really means a lot to me, even today." Waku gave it a bit of time before he asked another question.

"I take it that something happened with her that turned things a full 180 for you?" Waku asked.

"Y-yes..." Kirie hesitantly continued. "Two years ago, when she was just starting high school, she attempted to commit suicide." This noticeably shocked both Waku and Ushiro. "It was by luck alone that she was found soon enough before she could go through with it."

"W-why would she try to do that?" Waku hesitantly questioned.

"The truth is, nobody could really understand what she was going through," Kirie answered. "Nobody but me. She would always tell me about her friend, whom she felt she betrayed when she couldn't stop her from killing herself. I was the only person that she felt she could tell her problems to. Me, of all people. She wanted me to be the one to shoulder that responsibility, more than anyone else in our family...me... For her to put someone like me above all others, she really must have felt so alone, so helpless, as if there was no one better that she could reach out to..."

Waku and Ushiro looked at each other for a moment, bewildered by all that Kirie had shared with them. Waku then proceeded to place a reassuring hand on Kirie's shoulder and smiled at him.

"Y'know," he began, "I think you're a lot luckier than you'd expect, Kirie." Kirie looked at him with a confused look on his face. Ushiro did, too.

"I'm not saying that it's a good thing that your cousin tried to off herself," he quickly reassured. "Nothing close to that. What I mean is, I'm sure there's a good reason why she chose to come to you for her problems. Because you looked up to her. and she cared about you. You guys had each other, and like she would watch your back, you were there to watch hers. Even after she tried to, ...you know, you guys were still there for each other, right?" Kirie nodded timidly to this.

"I personally don't know if she was trying to give you a bad message with what she did, or anything, but you obviously got something worth thinking about out of it. You've got a much better understanding of the world, now, and through that, I think you could start to see people for their true colors, too. I think that your way of thinking will help to get you by better than most other ignorant schmucks nowadays." Kirie gave him a light smile from this comment. He saw that Ushiro was smiling, as well.

"Though, I suppose that I'm mostly talking out of envy," Waku added. This caused both boys to look at him questioningly.

"Envy?" Ushiro asked. "Why would you be envious? The way that you act, everyone would think that you've pretty much got it made. I mean, you're pretty much the most charismatic kid in the class, you're obviously a successful athlete, and you handle attention really well..." Ushiro stopped for a moment. "Jeez. With all that said, it really would make sense for you to be the first pilot."

"Nah," Waku explained, "you guys have got the wrong impression of me, actually." They both just kept looking at him.

"What I mean," he continued, "is that really can't see myself like that, either. People would always josh around with me, thinking that I was the guy who stood out the most so people would give me more attention. The thing is, though, I don't really care as much about getting attention as people would think. That's why I didn't argue when we all agreed to keep this a secret. I think that maybe I'd feel a bit better about myself if I had a chance to do some good without drawing attention to myself. Work to save the world with you guys as an anonymous hero." Kirie and Ushiro were both slightly surprised, but also felt a bit of reassurance from his statement.

Waku paused for a moment and murmured something else. "Maybe that's also why I quit soccer..." He looked up at the two of them and found the two of them giving him a puzzled look, to find out that his last comment was not as silent as he thought it to be. "You guys wouldn't want me to get into any more detail with that, would you?" he asked.

"No thanks," Ushiro reassured. "I think we've all had our fair share of life stories for toni-" But just before he finished, something had caught is eyes, and a look of surprise soon swept his face. Kirie and Waku had inquired what was wrong, turning to the shocking sight that had cut him off. Before them, they were surprised to see a series of long, dark-green slender legs synthesize from thin air.

The next battle had already begun.

-End of Ch. 3-

In the next chapter: Just as he had gained a new solemn friendship amongst the group, the child is now sent in the fray after what seemed too long of a wait. The common boy who sees little in himself is, at this very moment, standing atop the world about 500 meters with the safety of the planet in his hands as he is brought forth to handle this new opponent. What can he do? What will he do? The newest battle for the Earth will be shown in full in Chapter Four: Kirie vs. Blitz.

This chapter took me far too long to finally finish and post, and not just because of its length, either. I could probably mope about how it's been so hard for me and how I have a load of crap and studying to deal with, but that's hardly any excuse. Hell, I'm finishing this chapter at 4 in the frickin' morning. Anyway, with this chapter, I do hope that I will be able to progress faster with this, but who am I to keep such promises?

Hope you keep reading. Have a good one.

-King-of-Wings-360


	5. Chapter 4: Kirie vs Blitz

My longest chapter to date is finally done. And now it's time for a new battle!

I own none of the material within this piece.

* * *

Chapter 4. Kirie vs. Blitz

August 23, 2004

"This just in! It appears that another creature has begun to appear at Mitomo Island! There is no clear conformation, but based on the footage presented, this creature does not seem to bear any resemblance to the previous two that appeared only eight days ago. It is suggested for all residents within the area of Mitomo Island to head to the nearest shelter..."

As quickly as the latest news bulletin had come on News Claimer, the children in the lounge were already crowding around the glass door to the patio. They had seen the new creature begin to form before them as plain as day. Strangely enough, nobody running through the halls bothered to call out to them to evacuate as they ran for the shelter, wether they had noticed the group or not.

"It's here..." Kodama blankly stated. "It's appeared at the island again..."

"Ugh!" Anko exclaimed. "I really hoped it wouldn't be gross..."

"Wait!" Kana quickly gasped. "Jun's still outside with Waku-kun and Kirie-kun!"

"I don't see them anywhere on the patio," Nagi replied. The others looked at the patio to see that the spaces that they were standing in were now, indeed, vacant of their presence.

"Oh, crap!" Maki exclaimed. "Do you think they know?"

"We should go tell them," Moji calmly stated, while still holding a bewildered look of concern on his face. "If they're still out there, then by the time this thing takes shape, they could get hur-" But before he could finish, he had been overcome by the static wave again, as had the others.

* * *

As quickly as they had caught sight of the new creature taking form before them, Waku, Ushiro, and Kirie soon found that they were no longer staring into the once open night sky, but now at the enclosing brown tint of the cockpit's interior.

"Good. We're inside," Waku quickly commented.

"But," Kirie began, "where's everybody else?" Within seconds, however, the three of them soon found that the remaining members of the group began to appear within the cockpit. Kokopelli soon appeared amongst the lot of them, as well.

"Well," he stated, "it seems that everyone is present and accounted for. What say we get started then?" And in no time, each of the individual kids made their way to their hovering chairs, Kirie being the last to get to his. Once his seat was taken, the beige walls of the cockpit melted away to reveal a dark-blue surrounding which was the ocean of Mitomo Island. No trace of the island was visible from the depth that they sat at, nor any trace of their new opponent.

"Hmmm..." Kokopelli thought aloud amongst the seated group. "It seems that this one is certainly taking its time." The children were surprised that this enemy would be taking extra time to invade their world. This new enemy, which they would have to fight against and destroy to protect their planet, all by themselves.

"Um..." Kirie began, "This...the robot will move by my thoughts...right?"

"That is quite correct," Kokopelli replied. "Just as simple as it sounds."

"What we should do," Ushiro began, "is that as soon as the enemy has finished materializing, Kirie should bring this thing above sea level, obviously. Then maybe try the laser attacks against it. If all else fails we can always resort to using this thing's strength; this..." He paused in mid-sentence for a brief moment. "Uh, what's the name of this robot again?"

"Name?" Kokopelli was notably puzzled by this question. "It doesn't have a name."

"It doesn't?" Waku was slightly surprised by this. "Really?"

"Nobody ever bothered to give it one," Kokopelli simply replied.

"Huh," Waku stated. "Well, it seems like there's still some time before we have to fight. What say we come up with a name for this thing, you guys?"

"Sure," Maki cheerfully replied. "I say we give it a really cool name."

"Oh! I know!" Kako bluntly interrupted. "We'll name it 'Isao-20'! Or maybe 'The Kakonator'! Or even 'Omnisao'! Or maybe-"

"Kako, shut up!" Kanji cut him off. "This robot is all of ours, and there is no way in hell that we would even consider naming it after you!" Again, the plastered look of disappointment easily found its way to Kako's face.

"I say we call it 'Anza'!" Anko claimed.

"That doesn't sound too b-" Machi quickly cut herself off. "Hey wait! Anko, that's just the name of a pop singer!" Anko blushed and tilted her head to the side.

"Well," Kanji began, "it's an uncolored...fearsome...overwhelmingly huge creature...abbreviate that, and you've got...The U.F.O.!" Kanji soon realized how corny the name sounded, and quietly backed into his seat.

"How about 'Druxia'?" Nagi questioned.

"Nah, maybe something like 'Korgodon'," Katari said.

"'Gettaman'," Tsubasa said.

"'Scraggler'," Machi said.

"'Samuraiger'," Maria added.

"'Carvanos'," Kodama threw in.

"'Ovaria'," Chizu plainly stated.

"Koro-Koro-Rokon'," Maya lazily suggested.

"Hang on, guys!" Waku cut them off before things got out of hand. "If we can't decide on a name, I say we let Kirie pick the name, since he's the pilot and all." Nobody argued, but Kako looked noticeably agitated again.

"Me?" Kirie quietly asked. "Well...I guess I could try to come up with something..."

"I...I think," he soon began, "I think that the name of this robot should stand for us. Well, not only those of us in hear...Maybe also the people of our country, or on a very long stretch, the Earth, for that matter-"

"Hey! That just gave me a great idea for a name, you guys!" Maki immediately shouted out. Everyone then turned their attention to her. "Well, like Kirie was saying, we're all going to be fighting along side each other and with those around us in order to protect the Earth, so what if we called it something like... ZEARTH!" There was a small pause for everyone to absorb the suggested name.

"Zearth?" Ushiro finally said. "You mean like Z-Earth, for 'The Earth'?"

"I know it sounds kinda corny," Maki added, "but it's the best I could come up with after hearing Kirie's statement."

"That's actually not half bad," Machi replied. "I think it's a pretty cool idea for a name."

"I think it's lame," Kako stated.

"Well that settles it," Kanji retorted to him. "I'm for Zearth. You guys?"

"Yeah, I think it's kinda cool," Anko said.

"Me too," Tsubasa added.

"I like it, too, actually," Waku stated. "What do you think, Kirie?"

"Well...I think that your name idea is really cool, Maki," Kirie responded. "Let's stick with that."

"Alright!" Maki shouted humorously. "That settles it! This bad boy is officially named Zearth from here on out." Everyone then nodded in agreement, while Kako had murmured to himself that he still thought his name ideas were cooler. "Well," she continued to herself, "we've got our robot named, so that's a plus. Now if only we could find some uniforms, or some cosplay to go wit-"

"Oh," Kokopelli gently interrupted, "It appears that the enemy is completely materialized." And he was very right, for just as soon, a set of eight curved legs began to fall into the ocean before them, with noticeable tremors following. Moji thought to himself how the tremors were far worse for the people on the island than for themselves.

"Okay, dude," Waku stated to Kirie in a reassuring manner, "Let's give this a shot, right?"

"Y...yeah." Kirie responded. He then tried to get his mind set to the task at hand. He would now have to get up and fight against this new creature.

He would have to fight.

He would have to hurt another thing for himself and those around him.

That troubled Kirie a great deal inside. He was never much of a fighter at heart.

* * *

Shortly after the end of the school day, Kirie was waiting for Kako as he was desperately trying hard to get Chizu aside to talk to her. Once Chizu had coldly turned him away and waved goodbye to Kirie, he began to drag Kirie by the arm as they left the elementary school. It was in the fifth grade, and Kako and Kirie had only really known each other for about a year now, while Kirie had known Chizu for two. As soon as they had reached the corner of the school building, however, they were intercepted by Ooki, their slim, spiky haired classmate who picked on them, and his friends, the large and bulky Takai and sweet looking but snobbish Murai.

"Well, hey there, you two," Ooki began as he dragged the two of them to the side, "Don't suppose you guys've got that thousand yen I asked for, do ya'?"

"Oh, uh yeah!" Kako began to dig madly through his pockets for the money. "Here! I have it right here!"

"Good for you, Kako, my man," Ooki slyly commented, patting Kako on the back. He then truned to Kirie, slightly balling his fists. He looked ready to beat Kirie to a pulp. "Well, Kirie? what about you?"

"I..." Kirie immediately knew how this would go. Ooki would act pissed, as if Kirie seriously owed him, when he in fact knew about Kirie being so poor. He knew that Kirie wouldn't be able to afford to bring a thousand yen to school, giving him an excuse to hit him. "I can't."

"Oh, you can't, huh?" Ooki then punched Kirie in the stomach and kick him in the face, knocking him flat on his back. He then pressed the sole of his shoe on Kirie's stomach. "Don't feed me the crap, fatso. Let me guess, you wasted my money on extra food for lunch, didn't you you fat, poor schmuck?" Ooki then proceeded to rapidly kick Kirie in the stomach Well, I say we kick all that extra slop out of your gut and get my money back for it. Whaddya' say, guys?"

"Hell, yes!" Takai and Murai simultaneously agreed, as they assisted him in mercilessly beating Kirie's stomach. Kirie looked up to Kako, who gave him a look of 'as if' and began to run home. As they continued to kick him, Kirie turned to his other side to see another figure running towards them.

"Hey, you jackasses!" Takai turned to see Kirie's cousin, Kazuko Motoyama, running towards them at full speed with utter madness in her eyes. "What the hell are you doing to him?"

"Oh, crap!" he exclaimed. "Ooki, Motoyama's coming! Let's scram!" And so Ooki ran away with the others, but not before shooting Kirie a look which could easily be read as 'I'll catch you later.'

"Yeah, run away, you pricks!" Kazu hollered at the lot as they ran. She then immediately went to Kirie's side as he lay thriving in pain. "Oh jeez! Yosuke, are you okay?"

"I...I'm alright, Kazu," Kirie weakly replied. His cousin didn't believe that for a second as she tried to tend to him as well as she could before finally picking him up and helping him walk home.

"Hey, Yosuke," Kazu began, as they were noticeably closer to his house, "how come you never try to stand up against those punks?"

"Well... It's okay really," Kirie replied trying to reassure Kazu as best as he could. "They don't usually pick on me that much."

"Even so," Kazu stated, "don't you at least think it's wrong that they should have to pick on you at all? Being a nice person doesn't mean that you have to take heat from everyone, y'know?"

* * *

Kirie's mind drifted back to the situation at hand; before him was a far greater unseen foe which he would have to muster up a great amount of will power to fight. But first, he knew that he would have to rise to face his enemy. In that moment, he felt a slight tension in his muscles as if he was ready to move and suddenly he noticed that the limbs of Zearth were mimicking the motions that he had imagined taking, as it soon began to rise from the ocean floor.

"W-whoa!" Katari exclaimed as the cockpit shook with Zearth's motions. "We're really moving!"

Kirie was not able to take notice of this exclamation, however, as he had focused his mind on lifting the robot to face the opponent. Once the robot had fully risen, the group was able to get a much better view of the island from far to the side from them.

And just in the opposite direction was the new enemy that they were to face. The shape of this enemy was very distinct compared to the previous enemy; it had a very dark green hue, a pair of long claw-like appendages, and a small armored head standing atop a slender neck with a large bulb-like base from which eight curved legs emerged and dug into the ocean floor to keep its balance.

"Jeez," Maki stated in an almost admiring tone. "Gross or not, this thing seems like it'll be way tougher than the first one."

"Okay, Kirie," Moji began, "Like Ushiro was saying, first we should see how this enemy handles the lasers. Take aim at it, charge up the lasers, and blast at it."

"R-right," Kirie nervously responded. And with that, he began to ponder just how to work the lasers in the first place. He then felt a surge of energy course its way through Kirie's body all the way to the middle of his chest, and looked to see that an immense collection of bright light had gathered around Zearth's chest, as well.

"That's it!" Katari soon commented. And at that moment, he noticed that the enemy began to raise it's large arms into an offensive stance. Shortly after, the legs of the enemy began to skid clockwise along the water, causing it to move straight towards them. "Oh, crap! It's coming!"

Within that concentration of light growing before him, Kirie immediately understood what to do. As his enemy began to move closer, he moved towards it slightly and immediately unleashed all of the concentrated energy onto his foe. As soon as the lasers had made contact with it, a thick layer of smoke surrounded the attacked creature.

"Did it work?" Tsubasa asked, as everyone had kept their focus towards the thick cover in front of them.

And then the creature reemerged from the smoke, moving closer and closer towards them.

"Damn!" Nagi blurted.

"I guess the lasers won't be sufficient enough to damage it's surface," Nakama began to analyze, "so you'll have to resort to direct offense, Kirie." As soon as she had made the suggestion, however, the creature swung its large right claw at Zearth's side, causing it to tumble slightly. Fortunately, Kirie was quickly able to maintain the robot's coordination and move back before the creature's left claw could hit them.

"Whoa, nice dodge!" Kodama stated, taking special regard of how much more fluent the robot's movements had become as Kirie piloted.

The creature began to swing at them again, and Kirie quickly jumped to the side. It swung again, and Kirie dodged to the other side, although the creature was able to leave a rough dent in Zearth's right arm.

"Kirie, c'mon," Kanji said, curious about his constant dodging. "You're gonna have to hit it sooner or later." But oddly enough, Kirie just continued to move back or to the side every time the creature took a swing at them.

"Kirie," Moji calmly asked, "Are you trying not to fight?"

Some of the children took a moment to look at Kirie, while others had their attention focused on the enemy before them. Nonetheless, the same question popped into their minds: why wasn't Kirie fighting back?

"Wait, you're trying not to fight it?" Kanji had questioned. "How come?"

"I don't...I don't want to fight it," he responded. "I can't beat it."

"What're you talking about?" Waku then questioned. "Yes you can, dude."

"No, I can't. I'm not good enough," Kirie bluntly stated. "I know that if I try to fight it, it's only going to beat me, and then you guys would die, too." The enemy skidded towards them again and swung at them, which was dodged once again. "I... I just can't take that risk-"

But before he could finish, the enemy made a surprisingly quick dash at Zearth, knocking it right back. As the enemy proceeded to tower over Zearth, the kids were in slight panic about how they were staying balanced after being knocked over.

"Don't worry, Kokopelli reassured them, "the cockpit is specially designed for you to float." After their guide's comment, Waku focused back on Kirie, who looked very tense from all that was going on.

"Kirie, I know that it's a heavy risk," Waku stated, "but it's on that we've all got to take. We have to at least try, otherwise everyone will be guaranteed to die. It's hard, but we'll all have to handle it. I know that you can, too."

"But..." Kirie stammered, trying to think of what to say, "but..."

"Quit your damn moping and fight that thing already, you dumb pig!" Kako rudely blurted, causing Kirie a great deal of stress. Chizu then proceeded to give Kako a sharp glare, which immediately shut him up.

"Kirie, listen," Moji calmly assured, "You were chosen to go first, nobody can change that now. We can see that it's not gong to stop attacking us, so we're going to have to fight back." As Moji continued, the enemy raised up its right claw. "Just try to think of what you could do to beat it."

The enemy then swung its claw down straight towards them.

'But what?' Kirie glumly thought to himself. 'What could I possibly do?'

* * *

Kirie knocked on his cousin's door. It was the first time that he had come to see her in weeks ever since her suicide attempt. He heard from his aunt that she wasn't doing so well lately.

"Go away," a weak voice murmured from the other side of the door. Kazu sounded exhausted.

"Kazu...it's Yosuke," Kirie said. "Can I please come inside?"

After a few seconds, Kirie heard the door being unlocked from the other side, so he gently opened the door to enter her noticeably dark room. Kirie gasped a bit, as Kazu herself looked worse than he had thought. Her hair had begun to grow messy, there were dark bags under her eyes, and her face looked very pale. She hadn't been eating or sleeping well.

"K...Kazu, are you okay?" he asked her worriedly.

"...No, Yosuke," Kazu weakly responded, "I don't think I am." He didn't say anything. He simply stood there and looked at her.

"Yosuke...," Kazu continued, "I...I couldn't hold on anymore. I just couldn't." She slowly began to sob. "After...after what had happened with Yukie, I...I..." The sobbing soon grew, and Kirie went over to embrace his cousin and lend her a shoulder to cry on, still saying nothing.

"I can't...I can't be strong anymore, Yosuke. I couldn't help her cope with her problems and now she's gone. I...I just don't have it in me, now. Not for myself, or even for you. I...I'm really sorry." Shoe continued to weekly sob into his shoulder, and he simply sat there and said nothing.

'She can't be strong anymore...' Kire thought to himself. 'I never really wanted her to try and be strong for me. I never really cared that much about myself. But she can't even be strong for herself now? Somehow,...that just doesn't seem right.' He looked at her and wished for something better for her, but still said nothing.

'There has to be something I can do,' he thought. 'There just has to. If she needs someone to be strong for her,... should it be me?'

* * *

Just before the enemy's blow struck them, Kirie had lifted Zearth's arm up and swatted the enemy's claw to the side. Some of the kids began to open their eyes and see that they had not been hit.

'Now I remember,' Kirie thought to himself. A new wave of confidence suddenly overwhelmed him as he lifted Zearth back up on its feet to face his enemy.

"Kirie?" Waku stated with some surprise.

"I...I think that I can do this now," he quietly announced. And with that, he swung Zearth's right arm at the creature, knocking it back.

'I understand,' his thoughts continued. 'Here and now, all I can do is stay strong. Maybe not for myself, but for my friends here, for Kazu, and for everyone else.'

"C'mon, Kirie! Fight!" Anko shouted as he swung at the creature again.

'I don't want to fight this creature,' his thoughts concluded. 'I don't want to hurt it. But I have to. Not for me, but for them. For all of them. I will fight it. I'll fight it to win.'

The creature then swung both of its arms towards them with immense speed, but Kirie was able to quickly block with Zearth's arms. He then proceeded to kick at the creature's legs, knocking out the two to its left, which caused it to move back.

"After it, already!" Kako blurted out harshly.

Kirie then moved towards the retreating enemy as it swung its arms to ward him away. Instead, Kirie fired the lasers again from Zearth's chest, emitting a cloud of steam from the enemy's surface to distract it, as he then kicked at its two frontward legs, causing it to topple off' balance into the sea.

"Keep going!" Katari rooted on. "You can do it!"

With their enemy toppled, it attempted to attack again, by swinging its left claw at them. Kirie was again able to dodge this with quick speed, as he was quickly at the creature's side, and proceeded to shove one of Zearth's long slender arms into the creature's shoulder. Once it tore through, he released a barrage of lasers from Zearth's arm, tearing off the enemy's limb and reducing its attacking capablilites.

"You did it!" Maki exclaimed.

"It's still not over," Kirie stated as he moved closer towards the toppled foe. "How do I beat it?"

"The base," Maya pointed out. "That has to be where its weak point is."

As Zearth towered over the maimed creature, Kirie blocked off the swift thrust it made with both of Zearth's hands. Then, shoving its claw aside, he shoved his right arm into the bulb-like base of the creature, with relative ease. Finally, wasting almost no time, Kirie unleashed a vast array of Zearth's lasers from its hand into the base of the creature, incinerating it from the inside.

'I'm sorry,' he thought to himself.

As steam continued to pour out of the creature's base, it's remaining arm had gone limp, and the lights on its face went out.

The creature was dead.

Kirie had defeated it.

Everyone in the cockpit had to take time to absorb the moment, overwhelmed by how narrowly they had achieved their first victory.

"Well done, Yosuke Kirie," Kokopelli finally stated.

"Well done?" Machi asserted, as if that was a huge understatement. "Hell, he was totally wicked!" The others soon began to applaud to him, as well.

"You did great Kirie!" Maria added.

"Dude, you were so cool!" Katari said.

"Jeez, I really want to go next now," Kako muttered to himself.

"That was absolutely awesome, dude!" Waku said, clapping him on the shoulder. He then noticed that Kirie seemed slightly spaced out. "Hey, Kirie. You okay, man?"

"I...I think I need some air," Kirie replied after gathering himself together. "Kokopelli, do you think we could go outside?" And as quickly as he had asked, the wave of static overwhelmed him, as Kokopelli began to teleport the kids out of the cockpit from their seats, one by one.

* * *

As the children were teleported to the chest deck of Zearth, just beneath its face plate, they were given a far different feel of their surroundings compared to the area that they saw as they were floating in the cockpit. They had just realized how large the robot was and how high above the rest of the world they truly were. Komo felt slightly disoriented from the air and stumbled over on one side. Maki and Anko soon came to help her back on her feet.

"Jeez, we're really high up, huh?" Katari said, pointing out the obvious.

"Yup," Kodama responded. Everyone was still getting used to their surroundings when Waku noticed Kirie standing alone at the edge of the deck. He then walked over to Kirie and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, catching him slightly by surprise.

"Kirie," Waku began, with a bright look on his face, "you really did do a really awesome job." After saying this, many of the kids had given a thoughtful look in their direction. This did not go unnoticed by either of them.

"Thanks," Kirie shyly retorted, "but, in all honesty, I don't think that I would have been able to win if you weren't there to support me, Waku. Or any of the others for that matter."

"What're you talking about?" Waku continued, as if Kirie was kidding himself. "That was all you, from start to finish."

"Yeah, Kirie," Ushiro reassured. "I think you figured out how to take that thing on well on your own. You did do good."

"We all think that you really did a very good job," Nakama added, and he soon noticed that many of the others had also given him a look of praise. Kirie gave a shy smile to them.

"Yeah, yeah!" Kako blurted as he walked towards Kirie and Waku. "Don't let it get to your head fatso," he added as he gave Kirie a hard slap on the head and turned. "We don't need ya getting a bloated ego to go with your figure, am I right?...Guys?"

But nobody responded. They all just stared at him with immense disbelief all over their faces.

"W...what? What's with the weird looks? You guys are starting to freak me out!" Kako hadn't noticed that his slap had shoved Kirie over the deck, until Waku madly pushed him aside, jumped down and ran towards the sloped ledge to where Kirie had begun to roll down, almost motionless.

"Kirie!" Waku shouted as he ran towards his friend, who was rolling closer and closer towards the ledge of Zearth's chest. "Kirie, hold on! I'm Coming!" But as he ran, he had seen that Kirie had already reached the edge and began to fall over. As Waku reached the ledge, he immediately slid on his stomach hoping to grab hold of his friend's arm, but he had arrived only in time to watch Kirie fall head first towards the ocean beneath them. "Kirie!"

For the longest time there was a long silence, and then the others began to shout in concern for Waku.

"Waku!" Moji began to shout.

"Oh God, Waku-kun!" Komo had shouted from in between Anko and Maki.

"Waku, were you able to reach Kirie!" Daichi shouted.

"Waku, are you okay!" Maria shouted down to him, full of concern. "Waku!"

"No..." Waku murmured to himself in immense disbelief, towards both the death of his friend and himself being unable to do anything about it. He simply laid on the ledge, staring as Kirie fell further and further form him. "N...no..."

As they reacted in intense distress at the scene that had just played out before them, watching their friend's body hit the surface of the ocean, none of them had noticed that a light from Zearth's face had gone out.

-End of Ch. 4-

In the next chapter: Their latest battle had come so suddenly, and in the briefest moment their recent champion had ben shoved to his death. How will this affect their battles to come? Will they have to give up their secret to those around them? Could their connection face a few shatters and shakes? Who will stop to give their commoner friend one final farewell? The children take their next steps towards a more shadowy future in the events of Chapter Five: Lying to the Wake.

* * *

I feel that I am beginning to get a bit lazy with the length of time that I am using to put these chapters together piece by piece. I suppose that I have just got a lot to deal with at the time, with colleges to look at, summer reading to work on, and an art portfolio to touch up on. Like that's hardly any excuse. But anyway, I am glad to see that things are finally starting to spice up with this story and I hope that my readers haven't begun to lose interest.

Thanks again for reading and have a good night.

-King-of-Wings-360


	6. VIN Very Important Notice

V.I.N. (Very Important Notice) to all readers of Bokurano/ Overlap:

After doing some careful analysis of the plot that my current fan fiction is following, the characters that I am using, and the canon that I am basing the story off of, I have decided to conduct a quick rewrite of my fan fiction and repost it. I apologize to those who have been more than patient enough to wait long enough for me to post a new chapter, but I can assure you by all means that I have no intention of ending my fan fiction now. I simply wish to say that if you wish to continue reading my fanfic, I will repost it with a few adjustments and further progress under the title Bokurano/ Overlap (Redux). I hope that this change will not dissuade you from reading.

On a side note, directly to my readers, if you could possibly convince any of your peers to give my fan fiction a read, that would be highly appreciated, because I still find it very hard to believe that Bokurano still has so few fans and even fewer writers.

So until next time, please wait for my repost, and have a good one.

-King-of-Wings-360.


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